To think that the whole gcse / A level grading system is rigged

[SparklesandGold]

Just my opinion.

But isn’t it funny how GCSE and A level grades have significantly for higher ever since exams were cancelled?

I can’t help but think the whole thing is flawed. I am not teacher bashing, but come on, It’s hardly surprising to wonder if some, not all, teachers bumped their students grades up intentionally.

AIBU?

Herc I don't know if that's aimed at me but yes I do know that. I must admit though, not having taught vocational courses, I didn't realise until this year that more students take those at 18 than A-levels . The media coverage is very skewed towards A-level/GCSE (presumably most journalists took that route?)

But I kind of just thought, well, Sarah is a good person so I will give her a higher grade and I also want our schools grades to be high so I’ll give the class As and Bs

If you are going to go public with your opinions OP, at least make sure they are well informed ones. Please.

I want people reading this thread, who don’t already know, that removing bias was taken very seriously by JCQ this year. One way of achieving this and what most schools did was that when pupils sat exams (and they did sit many exams this year) that THEY DID NOT PUT THEIR NAMES ON THEIR PAPERS just wanted to make that clear and instead put numbers that only the exams officer knew.

When the teacher marked the papers, they did not know who they were marking or what class they were marking.

When moderated, the teacher did not know who they were marking or what class.

When discussing and arriving at final grades, the teachers still did not know who they were discussing yet.

The bollocks being spouted by people like the OP and the media, estimates were not used this year, for example is very damaging and based on very little understanding of the process and the work that went in to it. Do not diminish the achievements of these young people. Just don’t go there.

I know I should stop reading these goady threads but it’s important to make sure readers have a better understanding about what went on, rather than what they garner from the Daily Mail or some random on Twitter.

Now come on people, the OP is entitled to her opinion.
Thankfully so am I.
The OP is a goady arsehole.
Regards
Mum of a YR 11 student who got the grades he's been set at and achieved constantly since YR 7

@SparklesandGold

What gets me is that some students complain that they’ve had it so tough.. their exams were cancelled, what more could they want?

Don’t take the piss mate

Can’t believe people are still blethering on about this. How joyless life must be if you are bitter enough to begrudge children the grades they worked hard for in the middle of a pandemic.
I know a fair few children who didn’t do as we as expected both in Alevels and GCSEs so I’m not sure where their inflated grades were. @Grapewrath posts like yours make me long for a like button or similar!

Plenty of kids are predicted amazing grades but fall apart in the exam hall. I was one of them. Scraped enough together to get onto my A levels and then to uni, but I know I’d have reached my top grades if they were assessed on coursework! I can show you what I can do very easily, but writing it all down in 90 minutes of silence not knowing what I’ll be asked about… it was a challenge.

I guarantee the majority of the YANBU votes don't have children who have just been through GCSEs. It pisses me off that my DS will be seen as the generation who didn't deserve their results after working his ass off. Maybe you should picture your children in that scenario and visualise not defending them

Actually I'd like to know how old your DC are OP

@sparepantsandtoothbrush

I guarantee the majority of the YANBU votes don't have children who have just been through GCSEs. It pisses me off that my DS will be seen as the generation who didn't deserve their results after working his ass off. Maybe you should picture your children in that scenario and visualise not defending them

Every cohort has that.

I got As. The highest mark you could get at the time - but for years, they've been looked at as not being as good as somebody a few years younger who had A*s instead. They were also looked at as not being as good as O Levels. And some of them were 100% coursework or 50% coursework. Again, they get dismissed on that basis by some if they know.

Every single year, it happens.

You arent the brightest spark are you op

I think prob a fairer way to grade rather than one or 2 exams
Ds1 massively underachieved when he sat gcse as he went to pieces and the normal level 5/6 child got at best a 4 but also a 3,2 and ungraded, unheard of in any mock or piece of work he had done
Ds2 just got his gcse results and they were. What he generally worka at , what mocks etc were , well 2 were probably a grade down as he missed a couple assessments due to illness

@SparklesandGold are you for real , my son has had to cope with no lessons , online learning with limited pc's in the house, upteen mocks , assessments no idea on what was required etc , where he was. Yr 10 and 11 hugely interrupted and you can say what more can they want and what have they got to complain about.
Insensitive and down right rude

I say this with the utmost of respect...go fuck yourself OP.

My DD was being constantly assessed since november until the beginning of June. The pressure she was under was insane, she had to deal with bereavement and Covid over Christmas.

I would say that she may well have faired slightly better due to the assessments being spread out but that doesn't distract from her amazing achievement. She is severely dyslexic so had enough hurdles to overcome as well as practically having to teach herself.

I will say the same to anyone who says kuds were given an easy ride -FUCK OFF!! I mean that sincerely.

@AllAroundTheWorldYeah except that didn't happen in my ds school , they sat mocks not knowing exactly what was in it just that ot would contain work they had learnt
Where do people get these ideas and many weren't provided by teachers they hadn't seen them all either

@Greenmarmalade how could they test immediately a lot if work would of been done in year 10 early year 11 at that stage we never knew exams were cancelled , ib my sons schools some assessments/ mocks were done using a candidate number so person marking didn't know which child it was as well as the fact several teachers looked over work some of who would of never met said child as in secondary there may be 10 maths teachers of which my ds may if onky ever had 2 ,

[quote worriedatthemoment]@AllAroundTheWorldYeah except that didn't happen in my ds school , they sat mocks not knowing exactly what was in it just that ot would contain work they had learnt
Where do people get these ideas and many weren't provided by teachers they hadn't seen them all either [/quote]
Students were either set previous exam papers that their teachers would know inside and out. Or they were sat papers that had been made up by their teachers, or by other members of the dept - therefore not genuine exam papers at all.

Either option is flawed and would have resulted in inaccurate predicted grades... just like it does every year when teachers predict exam grades from mocks

@SailYourShips not everyone passed where are you getting your info
I know several that failed etc

The assessment system for the last two years has got to be fairer for all candidates. Under the normal system all the work for at least two years stands or falls on how you do on exam day, probably no more than five hours exam time for two years work. A candidate could have a cold, a headache, have started their period, have had an argument with their parents, something normally very insignificant but could mean they fail or don't do as well as expected. Being assessed over two years must give a better picture of how the candidate understands & remembers the subject, not being taught just to answer exam questions but showing knowledge of the whole subject.

Being assessed over two years must give a better picture of how the candidate understands & remembers the subject, not being taught just to answer exam questions but showing knowledge of the whole subject.
We had that. Modular exams and coursework were scrapped because they were apparently too easy.

@Cherryana as an exam marker you will know in subjects such as English where it is an essay marking can also vary between the examiners and one mark can be a a or b and you would know that exams and assessments were marked by others and not just the teachers as well , surely
The best thing would be to have percentages 100% is a , 90 % a b and if all kids that sit it get 100 % so be it not like now wherr its oh too many have done well , lets knock a few back

@AngryWhompingWillow except exams havent been coursework based for quite a few years no so thats wrong
And you can resit an exam as always been the case but of you get a 5 and resit and then get a 4 that is whats used the 4 not the higher 5

Also your not teacher bashing your actually putting down the students who worked their arses off
This hust shows that coursework has its place and how gcse were first started with some like english being all coursework with some controlled condition exams thrown in and others being some coursework and some exam was a better way and fairer for all , but bet we don't go back to that

@AllAroundTheWorldYeah except that didn't happen , online papers were sat also from external places so you don't actually know what happened and exams were marked as candidate numbers so no teacher knew who they were marking , my dd didn't know the content for most like any exam

This is what I know: exam markers have to regularly and request send in marked scripts to be checked and adjusted by team leader.

Grade boundaries need to be set somewhere and so of course sometimes a mark can make the difference between an ‘A’ or a ‘B’.

And you would know that scaling does not work as you are suggesting. If in a class got 100% then they would get 100%. There exam mark would stand. But if this happened across the country the scaled grade boundaries would need to adjust to make the average the C or the 5/6. This is what ensures continuity across years and is fairer than year on year percentages that would inflate every year.

There’s two separate issues here. Have students had an incredibly tough time, had to work very hard under stressful conditions, and deserve results that reflect that? yea and that should not be in question.
The wider issue of grade inflation isn’t really a Covid issue, it happens every year in both schools and universities. And will continue to do so as children and teachers continue yo improve in how they prepare for assessment. The traditional alternative is obvious, setting bands for each grade, so that only the top 25% get an A or a 1st etc, would require such a huge shift backwards and therefore be so controversial, that there is zero political will.